National WWI Memorial and I'm Sick

Location: Blue Springs Campground; Lee's Summit, Missouri (elev. 910 ft)

The second item on my "to see" list for Kansas City was the National World War I Memorial. I've been to a lot of war memorials in my travels but I think this one is the oldest at 92 years. It was first built by the people of Kansas City and opened its doors in 1926. It wasn't until 2004 that Congress recognized it as an Memorial and not until 2014 that they allowed it to be called the National WWI Museum and Memorial. To all of those Kansas City people,,,,,,ya'll did good.

Entrance with the Memorial Tower

A view of Kansas City from the top of the tower

Another view from the tower

As I said, I've visited several war museums. I've seen enough uniforms, weapons etc and they are of little interest to me anymore. I look for other things now a days. For instance, my generation was taught in school that some Archduke was assassinated and that brought the world to war. Well, that is sort of true, but like Paul Harvey used to say,,,,, now the rest of the story. First, I'm not a historian by a long shot and usually just try to simply some things in history to make it easier for me to understand. So, after that disclaimer,,,lol,,, The first world war was more of a Family Feud. The heads of state in Britain, Germany and Russia were all first cousins and grandchildren of Queen Victoria. As Kaiser Wilhelm of Germany said,,,, paraphrased,,,, "if Queen Victoria had been alive, she wouldn't have allowed them to go to war." That sort of puts it into perspective uh? A bunch of "royals" got mad at each other and lot of people died. 

It was suppose to be the "war to end all wars" but in reality, it simply set the stage for World War II. The winners of the war put such restrictions on Germany, it led to the rise of Hitler which proved even more devastating to the world. 

As you enter the museum, you cross a transparent bridge with lots of silk poppies under the bridge. These represent a strange fact about the war in Europe. People began to notice that after battles, poppies began to grow everywhere. Come to find out, it was because of the nitrate in the munitions used during the battle plus decomposing bodies. It was as if nature was trying to beautify something that had been ugly and terrible. Even today, the poppy is the official flower of the VFW and is used by other veteran groups during fundraisers and as a means to honor the war dead.

It was hard to get a good picture of the poppies but here it is.

  In Flanders Fields

BY JOHN MCCRAE

In Flanders fields the poppies blow

Between the crosses, row on row,

    That mark our place; and in the sky

    The larks, still bravely singing, fly

Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the Dead. Short days ago

We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,

    Loved and were loved, and now we lie,

        In Flanders fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe:

To you from failing hands we throw

    The torch; be yours to hold it high.

    If ye break faith with us who die

We shall not sleep, though poppies grow

        In Flanders fields.

They give you copy of the poem above after you cross the bridge and enter the museum. If you are like me, it sounded familiar. I guess the museum guy saw my puzzled look and said most people remember it from school when lots of us had to memorize it. Let me know if your one of those.

Another part of museum I liked was a part with giant paintings on the walls. The details were fantastic. I did the best I could about taking pictures of them but you really have to see them for yourself.

 

Well, tomorrow is moving day and I'm sick. I very rarely ever get sick, but I've got a runny nose, coughing and sneezing with a tickle in my throat. I got out today to get my propane tank filled as well as a few things from Walmart. You know Walmart is suppose to have everything but I looked and looked today but couldn't find something that I really needed. I searched for the perfect female to put her hand on my forehead and say, "it'll be OK, you will feel better soon." I never found her, so I just came on back to Liberty and will suffer alone and in silence. 

Ya'll take care of each other. I'll Cya down the road.